Nine chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway headed to a slaughterhouse now live at a farm sanctuary. Here, the lucky chickens will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The truck must have bounced over a crack in the freeway, at 60 or 70 miles an hour, as it headed south on the 605.

No accident was reported. The truck didn’t stop. It is possible the driver didn’t know what happened. Or care.

Alicia Pell, the Shelter Manager at the farmsanctuary, looks in on four of the eight chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway headed to a slaughterhouse. These four chickens, now named Bonnie, Clyde, Peggy, and Mulligan, were injured in the accident and are recovering in special cages. Once fully recovered, they will join the other chickens in a special hen house where they will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Four of the eight chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway headed to a slaughterhouse. These four chickens, now named Bonnie, Clyde, Peggy, and Mulligan, were injured in the accident and are recovering in special cages. Once fully recovered, they will join the other chickens in a special hen house where they will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

“Yoda” a rescued llama, pops into Alicia Pell’s office to ring for food at the farmsanctuary, where eight chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway now live. Pell, the manager at the farmsanctuary, will oversee the chickens which will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Nine chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway headed to a slaughterhouse now live at a farm sanctuary. Here, the lucky chickens will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Alicia Pell, the Shelter Manager at the farmsanctuary, looks in on four of the eight chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway headed to a slaughterhouse. Here, the lucky chickens will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway now live at a farm sanctuary in Acton, CA. Here, the chickens are adjusting well to their new lives and sometimes share their henhouse with a friendly sanctuary cat. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

“Yoda” a rescued llama, pops into Alicia Pell’s office looking for food at the farmsanctuary, where eight chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway now live. Pell, the manager at the farmsanctuary, will oversee the chickens which will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

“Yoda” a rescued llama, outside the office of Alicia Pell, the manager of the 26-acre farmsancturay. Eight chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway will now live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Nine chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway headed to a slaughterhouse now live at a farm sanctuary. Here, the lucky chickens will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort on the 26-acre farm in Acton, CA. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Nine chickens which were rescued after falling out of a truck on the 605 freeway headed to a slaughterhouse now live at this Farm Sanctuary in Acton, CA. Here, the lucky chickens will live out their lives, typically 5-8 years, in comfort. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

What is certain is this: The chickens in the back of that truck — hundreds of them jammed together in crates and heading for oblivion — felt that bounce.

All were 42 days old, the optimum age for slaughter because they’ve typically reached “table weight,” between five and six pounds. In the poultry industry such animals are known as “broilers,” a nickname that describes both their status on the food chain and their future.

When that truck bounced, just after 6 a.m. on Jan. 2, at least one chicken crate and possibly several popped open, sending 17 disoriented Cornish Cross broilers into the freeway.

But nine of those birds survived. And today, three weeks later, those nine chickens have names – Bonnie, Clyde, Mulligan, Starla, Peggy, Eliza, Jessica, Davey and Miles. They will not be broilers; they will not become fast food.

Their lives are just beginning.

Animal hero

If you were a chicken that fell out of a truck you would want Alicia Pell to ask for you.

Pell runs Farm Sanctuary, a 26-acre home for rescued animals in Acton.

She remembers watching television on the evening of Jan. 2, and seeing the video of the CHP officers rounding up chickens and putting them into the back seat of a patrol car. She knew chickens found on the freeway near Norwalk would probably be taken to the SEAACA (Southeast Area Animal Central Authority) Shelter in Downey. Soon, she called that shelter to ask if they would turn over their freeway chickens to her.

In another life, Pell, who grew up in Van Nuys and now lives in Santa Clarita, was an appellate lawyer. She spent her work time appealing final judgments.

A few years ago, Pell started donating to the Farm Sanctuary, which is across the canyon from the Shambala Preserve, a space dedicated to saving lions, tigers and other big cats – a place founded by actress Tippi Hedren, who once starred in Alfred Hitchcok’s crazed-animals-attacking-humans classic, “The Birds.”

Eventually, Pell landed a job at Farm Sanctuary. “I was trying to create some balance in my life,” she said.

In 2014, she left the law and became shelter manager at Farm Sanctuary. Her reasoning was, and is, simple.

“I think what’s happening to animals is tragic,” Pell said.

“When I drive past a Chik-fil-a, I block it out.”

Chicken life

The Farm Sanctuary is actually three sanctuaries, one in Acton, one in Orland, CA and the original, in Watkins Glen, New York.

The organization was founded by Gene Baur, who grew up in Hollywood and paid for college by acting in television commercials, including spots for McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

In the 1980s, Baur began investigating factory farms, slaughterhouses and stockyards. In 1986, he was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania examining a “dead pile,” animals that died before they could be slaughtered, when he found a sheep that wasn’t dead.

Baur named that sheep Hilda, and nursed her back to health. Hilda lived another 10 years.

She was the first Farm Sanctuary rescue.

The Farm Sanctuary in Acton opened in 2011. It’s in the rolling hills just off Highway 14, about 45 minutes north of Los Angeles.

On a recent Thursday, Pell left the window open as she sat in her office. A white llama named Yoda stuck his head through the window and then proceeded to repeatedly pick up and drop a bell that was on Pell’s desk. The clanging meant that Yoda was hungry.

Pell broke away to feed Yoda some oat pellets.

“It’s hard to think about a legal practice when you this guy (Yoda) in your office,” she said.

The animals arrive with incredible stories. Several goats and pigs were rescued from a backyard butcher who was operating illegally. One chicken survived a gas chamber. Others have been abandoned, abused and exploited.

At the Farm Sanctuary, the animals are treated as individuals. They all have names. They receive medical care, protection from predators and hugs.

A tiny xylophone lies in the chicken coop so one of the staff members can play music for the chickens.

The nine chickens that fell off the truck figure to live another five to eight years. They will grow to be 10 to 14 pounds. They get two health meals of nutritional pellets and greens per day.

Had that truck not bounced on the 605 Freeway, they would have been taken to a slaughterhouse.

Broilers are hung from their legs and dipped into electric baths to stun them. Then a robotic knife slits their throat so their blood can be drained. Some 8.5 billion chickens are slaughtered every year, Pell said.

“You can drown in those numbers,” Pell said.

Instead, she concentrates on healing the newest residents of the Farm Sanctuary.

Keith Sharon started at the OC Register in 1985. He's covered sports, education, cities, investigations and general assignment stories. He was one of the reporters on the 2005 Pulitzer finalist series "Toxic Treats." The Register has sent him to the Middle East (for a series on life on aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf), China (for the opening of Shanghai Disneyland), New Orleans (in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina) and San Francisco (for the World Series when the Angels beat the Giants). He has written two screenplays that have been made into films: ("Showtime" with Robert DeNiro and Eddie Murphy and "Finding Steve McQueen" with Forest Whitaker and Travis Fimmel). He lives in Trabuco Canyon with his wife Nancy, and three children -- Dylan, Alison and Trey.

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